Notts County
Accrington Stanley
Notts County roared to the top of the Sky Bet League Two table on Saturday afternoon with a fantastic 3-1 victory over Accrington Stanley.
The win, their third in a row, puts them in first place after six games in the fourth tier, and goes a long way into giving belief into their campaign for back-to-back promotions.
An early header by Dan Crowley was soon cancelled out by a looping Josh Andrews header, but a sensational brace from Macauley Langstaff in the second half put County in the driving seat on the way to three massive points.
Only one change was made between the two sides, both of whom followed 2-1 victories over Tranmere Rovers and Salford City into this game, with just Jay Rich-Baghuelou absent for the visitors in change with Joe Gubbins at the back.
The action at Meadow Lane got off to a flying start, firstly as a simple cross into the area by Accrington was fumbled by Aidan Stone, but the goalkeeper recovered in time as Whalley looked to divert home inside the first two minutes.
Notts managed to shake the scare off and soon had the ball in the back of the net, as a wonderful recycled cross by Jodi Jones met the head of Dan Crowley at the back post to give the hosts an early advantage.
Jones had another chance to fire in a cross from the same position immediately after the goal, but he sent that one into the grateful arms of Toby Savin.
Accrington were presented with a great opportunity to bite back just before the half-hour mark as a slip from Kyle Cameron allowed Whalley to break in on the right, but his delivery was poor and it allowed Notts to clear.
They gave away a cheap foul on the flank soon after, though, and a high ball to the back post was headed back over the flailing Stone and into the back of the net, with striker David McGoldrick unable to hack the ball off the line at the death.
The goal took the sting out of the game somewhat, with neither side carving out anything clear cut, save for an ambitious low drive from 35 yards by Tommy Leigh, which failed to catch Stone out at the near post.
Andrews had a brilliant opportunity right on the brink of half-time to send Accrington into the lead, bullying his way in between Richard Brindley and Connell Rawlinson to face up against Stone, who came out on top one-on-one with a block off of his outstretched leg.
Andrews came forth once more at the end of the five added minutes in the first half, with Stone again on hand to beat away a powerful drive by the striker before the curtain came down.
The second half began with the same backwards and forwards eb and flow, with a sharp bit of footwork from Macauley Langstaff on the right wing saw him squeeze away from Rosaire Longelo, but his cross was cleared away to Palmer who recycled it into a low shot for Jones that fizzed wide.
Langstaff was presented with another opportunity as his influence on the game began to grown, latching onto a loose ball before firing uncharacteristically off-target by sending the ball over the bar from close range.
He again made himself a nuisance in the penalty area, as he so often did last season, to get yet another opportunity to put Notts ahead from inside 12 yards, but an unbelievable close-range stop from Savin somehow kept the score at 1-1.
Accrington did well to weather the storm, and carved out a half-chance of their own after a small lull in the action with Leigh again trying his luck from distance to wrap one around the far post from the edge of the box.
A moment of magic was to follow for Langstaff to finally grab the goal his performance merited, twisting away from visiting shirts under severe pressure, but managing to loft a beauty into the top corner with his weaker left foot.
Accrington sought to immediately respond, and almost did so after a corner routine found Andrews towards the back post to again loop one over Stone, but this time the Notts stopper did superbly to fly back and claw it away from danger, with Whalley only able to send a rebound into the side-netting.
Stone was again on hand to perform some heroics as the game entered its final 15 minutes, as another defensive error went unpunished thanks to his low parry to deny Liam Coyle from the edge of the box.
The pace of the game all but died off from that point, although Notts County enjoyed the majority share off the possession as the game started to enter it's final stages to keep their visitors at bay in their chase of the game. John Bostock lined up a free-kick during this spell that slipped past the wall and into the side-netting in a rare chance.
With Notts County, however, there is always time for one more goal, and it came by the boot of Langstaff for his second of the afternoon, racing onto a lovely threaded pass by Matty Palmer before keeping his composure to loft it over the helpless Savin into the back of the net.
There were to be no final twists to the tale at Meadow Lane, and Luke Williams' side held on for a big three points that puts them on top of the tree in League Two.
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